Belt guide and shifter.



No. 687,27l. Patented Nov. 26, I90l.

' J. L. R OEBIG.

BELT GUIDE AND SHIFTER.

(Application filed July 18, 1901.)

(No Model.)

NTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. ROERIG, OF LAKE CRYSTAL, MINNESOTA.

BELT GUIDE AND SHIFTE'R.

SIP3CIFICACT.ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,271, dated November 26, 1901.

Application filed July 18, 1901.

To aZZ whom it'may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN L. ROERIG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lake Crystal, in the county of Blue Earth and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Belt Guide and Shifter,of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to belt guides and shifters; and the object in view is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient device capable of performing the functions of guiding and shifting and adapted for application to a traction or portable engine for use in connection with separators and similar agricultural machines, and a particular object is to provide as an article of manufacture a device of this kind having a supporting-bracket upon which all of the operating parts are mounted and which may be secured inexpensively to the boiler of an engine of the above-named class.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description when considered in conection with the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters represent corresponding parts in all the figures, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details of construction maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of the belt guide and shifter embodying the invention applied in the, operative position to the traction-engine. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, partly in section, showing the adjacent portions of the engine and drive-pulley. Fig. 3 is a detail view in perspective of the device detached.

The device consists, essentially,ofabracket 1, a slide 2, mounted upon the bracket for movement in the direction transverse to the belt to be shifted or guided, and operating means 3, consisting in the construction illustrated of the rock-shaft 4, having an arm or handle 5, said shaft being extended longitudinally of the engine-boiler, (indicated at 6,) so that the operating-handle 5 is within easy reach of the operator or engineer, and acrank- Serial No 68,836. (No model.)

arm 7 on the front end of the rock-shaft for connection with the slide 2.

In the construction illustrated the bracket is provided with an arcuate or segmental bearing device 8, adapted for contact with the side surface of the engine-boiler and having a curvature corresponding therewith, said plate being adapted to be bolted, riveted, or otherwise secured to the wall of the boiler.

Extending outward in a horizontal direction secured against relative displacement bya.

transverse connecting-plate 13. Between this connecting-plate and the lower side of the stirrup 11 is a transversely yielding or resilient brace 14, disposed in a diagonal position and adapted to prevent sagging of the hearing end of the guide.

Mounted upon the guide for movement toward and from the side of the boiler or, in other Words, movement transverse to the length of the belt 15 is the slide 16, provided in its side edges with grooves for the reception of the inner edges of the guide members 10 and also having vertical pins, studs, or bolts 17, upon which are mounted antifrictional bearing-rollers 18 for contact, respectively, with opposite side edges of the belt, the interval between the adjacent sides of said rollers being approximately equal to the width of the belt, said rollers being adapted when the slide is in a fixed position to hold the belt against displacement from the pulley traversed thereby and also adapted when the slide is moved to carry with it the belt in order to shift the latter to or from the pulley 19. (Illustratedin the drawings.) The connection between the rock-shaft 4 and the slide 16 con-' sists of a link 21, engaged at one end with an eye 22 of the slide, preferably near the center of its length, and connected at the other end with the wrist-pin portion of the crank 7, whereby as the rock-shaft is turned from one position to the other by the manipulation of the arm or handle 5 the slide will be moved either inward or outward to shift the belt as desired.

lVhen the slide is in the position illustrated by full lines in Fig. 2, the parts will maintain their position without special locking means, and in order to guard against accidental displacement of the slide when the latter is in the position indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2 it is preferred to utilize the resilience of the brace 14 by making the crank-arm 7 of such a length as to rest at its transverse or wrist-pin portion 23 on said brace. To shift the belt, therefore, from the position shown in full lines to that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, it is necessary to turn the rock-shaft with sufficient force to overcome the resistance afforded by the brace 14 and allow said wrist-pin portion of the crank to pass the same. In the same way in throwing the belt to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 the depression of the brace by the contact therewith of the wrist-pin 23 is necessary. \Vhen the slide has been thrown to the position indicated in dotted lines and shifted the belt from the pulley in order to disconnect the traction-engine from the separator, said slide is held in this position untilthe operator is ready to return the belt to the pulley-in other words, the contact of the lower end of the crank-arm with the resilient stop formed by the brace serves to prevent the slide from returning to the full-line posit-ion. Hence the slide remains in a position to receive the belt and saves the operator the inconvenience of drawing the slide outward in order to insort the belt. After the lower side of the belt has been dropped into the guide between the rollers thereof the inward shifting of the belt to transfer it to the pulley may be accomplished with facility.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that the device embodying the invention may be applied with facility to a traction or portable engine of any of the ordidinary types and that when in position, especially when located close to the drive-pulley, it will securely prevent accidental displacement or dismount-ing of the belt and will be normally held in position to receive the belt when the latter is not on the pulley.

What is claimed is 1. A belt guide or shifter comprising a bracket having opposite parallel guiding members, a slide having its opposite longitudinal edges adapted to said guiding members, pins carried by the slide, antifriction-rollers journaled on said pins, and a rock-shaft having a crank connection with said slide.

2. A belt guiding and shifting device comprising a bracketprovided with parallel guiding members, bearing members connected respectively therewith, transverse connecting members between the remote ends of the said guiding and bearing members, and a brace between said connecting members, a slide mounted upon the guide members and having means for engaging a belt, and operating means connected with the slide.

3. A belt guide and shifter comprising a supporting-bracket provided with a guide and a subjacent yielding brace, a slide mounted upon the guide and provided with means for engaging a belt, a rock-shaft mounted with one end upon said bracket and having a crank-arm provided with a wrist-pin in the path of movement of which said brace is arranged, whereby the crank-arm is held in one position by contact with said brace, and a connection between the wrist-pin and the slide.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN L. ROERIG.

\Vitnesses:

D. A. REED, P. A. LARSON. 

